Before the Dam Takes It: Angola’s Earliest Burials and Its Only Known Urn Cremation
Excavations ahead of a hydroelectric dam uncover the earliest radiocarbon-dated burials and sole known cremation in pre-colonial Angola
Many of the earliest European accounts of central Africa, including Angola, describe a people who dwelt in wooden homes. Their buildings were perishable; they rotted away over time, leaving little or no trace in the archaeological record. It was thought that using stone was a later innovation. But what if it wasn’t?
A recent study conducted by Sofia Alexandra Mateus Simplício D’Olivera and her colleagues at the site of Caculo Cabaça in Angola has documented a human settlement dating to the early 15th century AD, predating the arrival of the first Europeans in the area. Here, they found not just the earliest dated stone architecture, but also human remains; the story they tell is equally fascinating.
Stone Upon Stone in Africa
Stone buildings in sub-Saharan Africa have been documented at numerous sites, among the most famous being the walls and structures of Great Zimbabwe. But central Africa, including Angola, has received little scholarly attention.
The attention the region has received often revolves around debates discussing how Angola’s stone-building tradition was introduced, either by Europeans and/or other African groups, or was a locally developed phenomenon.
One problem with getting a definitive answer is that hardly any of these structures have been reliably dated. Without dates, one cannot say whether they predate contact with specific groups or whether they arose only after encountering other people who used stone architecture.
So far, no structure has been convincingly dated to before the 16th century AD.
Along the Cuanza River, a few burial sites from the 16th–19th centuries feature circular dry-stone enclosures where the dead were placed inside. But only a handful of these burial sites, not just along the river but in Angola in general, have been studied before. Among them are the tombs of the famous Mbanza Kongo church, the capital of the old Kongo Kingdom, but these date to between the 17th and 19th centuries.
Some historians have suggested that a sizeable community once lived in the Cuanza Basin, and that Caculo Cabaça may have been one of them.
The site lies along the Cuanza River, in a rugged, granite-rich highland where the water runs fast, making it ideal for modern hydropower. One stretch of the river was once the crossroads of several African kingdoms and people, including the Ndongo, Quiçama, Libolo, and Imbangala. While from the mid-1400s onward, European missionaries, soldiers, and traders added their own footprint to the landscape.
Among the rich history the landscape holds are sites spanning both river sides, with one northern part near a village remembered as the homeland of Queen Njinga’s (1583–1663) maternal family.
Queen Njinga was the ruler of the Ndongo and later Matamba kingdoms in present-day Angola. One of the few female monarchs of her era, she rose to power through skilled political maneuvering. She spent roughly thirty years leading armies, forging alliances (including with the Dutch), and resisting Portuguese colonial expansion. Today, she is remembered as a symbol of resistance in Angola’s national identity.
With such a rich history, it is no wonder that when construction crews for a nearby dam began their work, they eventually came upon the remains of stone structures. The discovery prompted Angola’s heritage authorities and the National Museum of Archaeology in Benguela to launch an emergency rescue excavation.
“We knew we were dealing with an important archaeological landscape because of the number and diversity of stone structures,” said D’Oliveira.
With the reservoir closing in, the team was racing against time as they excavated a landscape that would soon be destroyed. Thus, the priority was given to the areas that would disappear first.
The Earliest Stone Walls, and Blessings for the Dead
Before any digging could begin, archaeologists honoured the local traditions by having the village elders (Sobas) perform a blessing ceremony at the site. The ceremony included offerings of wine, eggs, and bread to the ancestors as well as the sacrifice of a young goat to ask for permission and protection. On top of that, they had to wait until the area had been cleared of landmines, a lingering legacy of Angola’s civil war.
As D’Oliveira put it, the work touched more than artifacts: “We were not only working on archaeological features … we were working within a living landscape, where material remains are still connected to local memories, spiritual responsibilities, and respect for ancestors.”
When they finally did begin excavation, it was a race against time, making the fieldwork rushed and uneven, as the team needed to meet the deadlines imposed by the dam construction.
In total, 65 stone structures were excavated, among them were tumuli (elliptical mounds of stacked stones covering graves), stone platforms of unknown purpose that may have served as foundations, and miscellaneous structures ranging from pot stands to small stone rings.
Among the stone structures were 12 tumuli; six still had human remains, and five were buried on their sides with their legs bent or sitting with their knees against their chests. But one burial was unlike the rest. It consisted of an urn holding cremated skull fragments and teeth.
Now the question became: how old were these structures and burials? But to figure this out, the team could only rely on the radiocarbon dates from the burials.
This is what they found.
The Oldest and The First
The dates revealed three firsts for Angola. Namely, that the burials and, therefore, the associated stone structures are dated to the 15th century. More specifically, three burials had dates that fell between AD 1411 and 1481, while the urn cremation was dated to AD 1404 and 1448.
The discovery verified these were the earliest stone structures in Angola, and had existed before European arrival. The burials were the earliest radiocarbon-dated interments in the country, and the urn was the first evidence of an urn cremation burial in pre-colonial Angola.
So, in short, Caculo Cabaça, now partially swallowed by the waters of a dam, contained the earliest well-documented evidence of stone structures, burial, and urn cremation in pre-colonial Angola.
The findings are significant, as they support those of historian Jan Vansina, who theorised that large communities once existed in the Cuanza Basin even before the 15th century.
Interestingly, 17th-century drawings by a Capuchin missionary depict similar “pagan burials” that locals refused to disturb due to superstition. The drawing and archaeological evidence suggest that this tradition was long established. And yet, early accounts of European travellers rarely mention stone structures; instead, they paint a picture of a people who use mainly wood and other perishables. Perhaps, the authors suggest, this was a historic bias.
And who were these burials for?
Well, the honest answer is, nobody knows, but some clues may have been preserved.
You see, burial position can indicate social status, and in Angola, side burials have traditionally been associated with ordinary adults, while seated burials have been linked to elites, including chiefs.
And yet no clear prestige goods were recovered; instead, the burials contained grinding stones, querns, ceramics, and even iron slag. The grinding stones were of particular interest because they are associated with domestic activities and are often specifically associated with women. Their presence raises questions about their function as symbolic offerings, identity markers, or whether they were connected to sex or social status.
Even the urn is mysterious, not only is it the first in pre-colonial Angola, but the burned vessel with part of a skull and some teeth has no parallels in Angolan archaeology, with the closest parallel coming from drawings made in 1687 by a Capuchin missionary who frequently depicted pottery in the heart of oaths of loyalty, sacrifice, and other ceremonies.
The discoveries support historians’ suspicions that dense communities thrived in the Cuanza Basin well before European contact. And although the reservoir will soon swallow much of the site, the team has already located stone structures beyond the flood zone.
“I hope this case serves as a blueprint for new policies and legislation,” D’Oliveira said, “so we can identify, study, and protect these sites before any destruction happens.”
A recent study has identified the earliest stone structures, the oldest well-documented radiocarbon-dated burials, and the first-ever urn cremation in Angola, all situated at a single site now swallowed by the floodplain of a dam.
Though some areas of the site remain unflooded, continued research and excavation may yet reveal far more fascinating discoveries.
Who do you think was buried in the seated graves, and why have so few pre-colonial stone structures been discovered in Angola?
Originally Posted On Medium
Reference:
Mateus Simplício D’Oliveira, S., Mesfin, I., Benjamim, E. P., de Saulieu, G., Raul, M. K., Coutros, P. R., … Benjamim, M. H. (2026). First Evidence of Burial Practices and Stone Constructions from the 15th Century <span class=”smallcaps smallerCapital”>a.d.</span> Pre-Colonial Middle Cuanza River, Angola. Journal of Field Archaeology, 51(4), 307–322. https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2026.2623354
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